Portland looks like an awesome city- how do you guys do it? (home, neighborhood)

[SETabor]

It's all about being a tourist and being happy away from the office and house work and in a new place. When you live somewhere you get to see all the nitty gritty details good and bad about the place and you get tired of it. Yes, SF is dirty but I like to visit - it's fun! Great restaurants and shopping and the parks and hills and trolleys. I've been several times and never noticed a pot hole.

The fact that you didn't see any pot holes tells me you didn't really get to many neighborhoods.

[HappyinCali]

Originally Posted by Mini-apple-less

Yeah, I'm also a native San Franciscan and I lived in Portland for 4 years and I agree that if someone doesn't like San Francisco, overtime they will grow to dislike Portland too. Because the two cities are socioculturally and politically extremely similar. Ie socially liberal, but very pro-wealthy at the expense of other income categories.

I love SF.

[HappyinCali]

Originally Posted by SETabor

It's all about being a tourist and being happy away from the office and house work and in a new place. When you live somewhere you get to see all the nitty gritty details good and bad about the place and you get tired of it. Yes, SF is dirty but I like to visit - it's fun! Great restaurants and shopping and the parks and hills and trolleys. I've been several times and never noticed a pot hole.

The fact that you didn't see any pot holes tells me you didn't really get to many neighborhoods.

I think the difference is that in SF you just need to drive on any main street and you will be traveling over potholes - you don't need to go to fringe neighborhoods. We went to 5 different areas and drove around all of them. We went to Pearl District, the area that has PokPok, Alphabet district, an area with some restaurant with Tin in the name, an area on the yellow line and all of those areas had much better streets than SF.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

I think the difference is that in SF you just need to drive on any main street and you will be traveling over potholes - you don't need to go to fringe neighborhoods.

The arts tax joke was hilarious, fwiw.

Oversimplifying just slightly, in Portland the issue isn't "fringe" neighborhoods, it's that the City uses pretty much all of east county as a tax base for keeping the city center polished while investing very little back, and is the reason secession is on the table.

[HappyinCali]

Originally Posted by bler144

The arts tax joke was hilarious, fwiw.

Oversimplifying just slightly, in Portland the issue isn't "fringe" neighborhoods, it's that the City uses pretty much all of east county as a tax base for keeping the city center polished while investing very little back, and is the reason secession is on the table.

Interesting. Didn't know that. That's what I was hoping to find out by starting this thread. Thanks for the info. Is there more I can read on this?

[Yankeemama]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

It is caused by the recent push out from downtown, the problem is when the police go in and break up camp sites, all it does is move them to another area. This week the police have been clearing them out along the waterfront near the Hawthorne Bridge which will more than likely push them somewhere else in the city.

I guess it will get worse this Summer as city officials will want the touristy areas to look nice and the young homeless will be coming in droves for the weather.

[Yankeemama]

[quote=Bluesmama;39774813]A lot fewer people had their heads buried in their smartphones there.

WHAT?????

The kids in elementary school already have their heads buried in their phones. It is EVERYWHERE! I am putting off getting my older child a phone but she has a medical disability so it will be helpful for her though I am going to have to monitor her using it. It's different times we are living in, Bluesmama. I am glad the Internet wasn'tup and running until my late 20's. I learned to talk to people face to face. Ahhh... good times!

[SETabor]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

I think the difference is that in SF you just need to drive on any main street and you will be traveling over potholes - you don't need to go to fringe neighborhoods. We went to 5 different areas and drove around all of them. We went to Pearl District, the area that has PokPok, Alphabet district, an area with some restaurant with Tin in the name, an area on the yellow line and all of those areas had much better streets than SF.

The Pearl District and Alphabet district are all tourist areas and the city has an incentive to keep potholes away from the tourists. SE Division near PokPok just got repaved last year - the street was a horror for a year while all the construction was going on. It's nice and crowded now but I still have flashbacks of how bad it was.

[bler144]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

Interesting. Didn't know that. That's what I was hoping to find out by starting this thread. Thanks for the info. Is there more I can read on this?

There's no shortage of stuff out there.

East Portland citizens want to secede | Mid-county Memo
Charlie Hales Says He Makes His Decisions Thinking of 127th and Mill Court. We Went There.
Razed & Confused: $96 Million Spent to Revive East Portland's Lents. Where's the Rebirth?

In that last article, Lents is notable because it's really the only neighborhood the city has tried to pour money into. They are making some investment now in the 'Gateway' corridor but there's some mixed blessing there.

Similar to Lents I think the city does mean well there, but I'm not convinced they've fully thought it through.

[Nell Plotts]

Texting while driving is a problem everywhere. Our building manager was driving home from work north of Vancouver. She slowed for traffic ahead of her and another driver respond her because she was texting.. hit our gal in the rear end at 45+. Our gal suffered significant brain injury, healing slowly a month after the accident.